Investigation of the relationship between parental emotion regulation skills and attitudes and child temperament

Aim: The study aims to examine the temperament structures of children in early childhood and explain the relationship between parental emotion regulation skills, parental attitudes and child temperament. Materials and methods: In the first stage, research on child temperament was examined from a bibliometric perspective. The relationship between child temperament and demographic data and the effect of parental emotion regulation skills and attitudes on temperament was studied in the second stage. Purposive sampling was used in the research. The population of the research consists of mothers of preschool-age children. Data: The Personal Information Form was obtained using the Children's Temperament Scale, the Parental Attitude Scale and the Emotion Regulation Scale for Parents. Multiple linear regression and hierarchical regression analyses were accomplished to analyze the data. Results: It was observed that the interest in child temperament has increased in recent years. The most appropriate discipline field is developmental psychology; the subjects of complex temperament, disorder, and baby temperament are popular, and the keywords temperament parenting and child temperament are related. Regarding demographics, it was observed that child temperament is affected by gender, birth order, and parental education level. Shy temperament characteristics are high in children of parents over 40, and there is no difference in age, income level, or mother's employment. As a result of the regression analysis, it was seen that parental emotion regulation had an effect on democratic, authoritarian and overprotective attitudes, and parental attitudes had an effect on the reactivity, positivity and shyness dimensions of child temperament. It was observed that parental emotion regulation and attitudes are effective on child temperament and that parental attitudes have a regulatory role. Conclusion: It was noticed that child temperament is a popular topic, temperament is related to some demographic variables, and parental emotion regulation and attitudes affect child temperament.